The present invention relates to post-like apparatus such as commonly utilized for erecting signs and, more particularly, to an outdoor support post apparatus particularly adapted for selective assembly and disassembly to facilitate repeated temporary use.
In recent years in the United States, the marketing and sale of homes and other single family dwellings have become increasingly competitive as major real estate brokerage firms have quickly expanded nationwide through franchising. As a result, the manner in which real estate is advertised has become increasingly important. As part of this new awareness and attention to marketing, real estate brokerages have designed and put into use distinctive, personalized styles of on-site property sale signs. By way of example, the nationwide chain of Merrill Lynch real estate brokerage firms currently utilizes a distinctive wooden sign post assembly the design and configuration of which is readily recognizable. Other real estate brokerage firms across the country have adopted the same or highly similar signs.
While such signs provide a marked improvement in construction and appearance over the more simplistic signs previously in widespread use, these new signs are significantly more expensive and cumbersome to use. Typically, the aforedescribed signs are fabricated of conventional "four-by-four" wooden posts, including a vertical post member approximately four to six feet in height and a horizontal post member approximately three feet in length. As will be understood, such materials are relatively expensive. Moreover, such signs are necessarily relatively large and heavy, to the point that such signs cannot be conveniently transported in an ordinary automobile and, in any even, an average real estate agent has difficulty handling and erecting such signs. Accordingly, real estate brokerage firms typically hire an independent contractor to erect and take down such signs on-site at property listed by the firm, which of course further increases the overall expense associated with the use of such signs.